


it's all about you now

by dhi_s



Category: Chicago Med
Genre: Connor and Will are friends, Gen, Protective Jay Halstead, Sick Will Halstead, Will Halstead Whump, Will Halstead is the younger brother in this, Will is a Mess, Worried Jay Halstead, hurt will halstead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:48:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27606520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dhi_s/pseuds/dhi_s
Summary: Will is doing all he can to keep up with the shit storm life is throwing at him and taking care of himself falls between those cracks. When he can't keep up anymore, who will.(shit summary i know)
Relationships: Jay Halstead & Will Halstead, Will Halstead & Connor Rhodes (Chicago Med)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 89





	it's all about you now

**Author's Note:**

> hello :)
> 
> this is something new i'm trying for the chicago med fandom since it is my current obsessions and i firmly believe in Will Halstead Supremacy. 
> 
> some of the facts in here are definitely incorrect so please dont mind those and i hope you enjoy!

_22 hours_

That’s how long Will had been up and about in the ED, picking up back to back overtime hours for the pay he desperately needed. His apartment owners had raised the rent price once again in the last few months and Will was struggling to keep up. The same shitty apartment with the faulty electricity, a broken heating system, and hot water that only lasted forty-five minutes tops that Will could afford for the time being. 

Will sighed as he sat down in the lounge room after what felt like forever to his aching legs. His last patient should have been the easiest one he’s had all night, a quick physical checkup for a 60-year old woman that was known in the ED for her temper. It was considered a running joke that the doctor who got Miss Agnes as a patient was due for bad luck. Nothing new to Will in that regard then. 

Will had barely been able to keep a proper conversation going with Agnes, going through the routine checkup almost robotically as the old women talked about how kids these days should be going outside rather than be cooped up on their ‘damn walky-talky machines’. The ginger doctor nodded and added commentary absent-mindedly and finished checking Agnes’s medical chart, making sure there was nothing new to add for future, going through the final part as quickly as possible. 

“Okay then Agnes all done, you’ve got a perfect bill of health and I see nothing wrong. Are there other concerns you had?” Will asked, his mind wandering to the fact that after this patient, he could finally sit down and grab something to eat. 

“Well since you’ve asked me so politely deary…” 

And that’s when it went downhill. 

Will spent the next hour and a half trying to convince the old woman that _“No Agnes that's just a beauty mark- I’m not hitting on you it’s just a mole!”_

It had taken far too long to convince the _old hag_ that she did not, in fact, have skin cancer as her online articles had insisted she had. After signing off her discharge papers, Will rolled his eyes at Maggie and April who had watched the entire ordeal and we’re doing a not so great job at hiding their obvious enjoyment of the free entertainment. 

“There goes Chicago Med’s latest gossip trope, Will Halstead hits on a senior citizen” Will mumbled to himself, resting his still aching head between his knees as if that would make it go away. 

Logically he knew he was overexerting himself and that his lack of food and water today was no positive thing. He had been too caught up with the busy flow of patients going in and out that he didn’t even have time for himself. The sound of a locker closing shut a little too loud is what broke Will out of his pity party as he looked up to the source of the noise. 

“Rhodes” 

“Halstead” 

Will blinked blankly at the man who was standing a few feet away from him and asked in a croaky voice, “When did you come in? I didn’t hear the door open” 

“Well that just shows me how out of it you really are then Halstead, I was already here when you came and I even said hi but I guess you didn’t hear me” Connor replied in a teasing tone with a playful look on his face. 

“Huh” 

Will went back to putting his head between his knees, no rebuttal coming to mind to continue his conversation with Connor. He was surprised that he was coherent enough to string words together in the first place, but sarcasm would be a whole other challenge he was too tired to accept. 

“How long have you been up now?” Connor asked, filling in the silence of the room with a worried tone as he took in the state of his friend. 

Will looked absolutely thrashed for a lack of a better word. 

His skin was sickly pale and sweaty and Will’s prized hair looked dead. Connor had seen Will in and out of the doctors' lounge all day but never to sit down. The younger would come in, grab a cup of coffee or a couple of papers, and walk out the door almost all in one motion. 

“I’m done anyhow I was just about to grab my coat” Will replied, never looking up. 

Connor rolled his eyes, “You still didn’t answer my question, I just finished up a twelve-hour shift and you’re still here” 

Will let out a shaky breath as he slowly got up from the couch but swayed almost falling right back down if it wasn’t for Connor rushing in to make the redhead didn't fall squarely on his face. 

Will shrugged of Connor’s hand which was perched on his shoulder, “I’m fine, I just gotta catch the train at the L-Station and then sleep for the next week straight”

Will moved around Connor who was still staring adamantly at the other doctor before his words fully registered. 

“Wait what do you mean L-Station, what happened to your car Will?” 

“Sold it” 

Closing his locker and making sure he didn’t leave anything behind, Will checked his phone for the train station timings and walked out of the lounge, the door closing shut startling Connor out of his stupor. Connor opened the door and ran after Will who was just about to leave the ED

“Listen Halstead, you look you’re about to pass out and I can’t let you go and do that in front of everyone now can I, you’ve got a reputation to uphold,” Connor said leading Will to aside. 

“You’d like to see that happen wouldn’t you” Will replied, nodding in agreement not having the energy to argue with the other. He wasn’t stupid he knew what exhaustion and a fever felt and looked like, he was a doctor after all. 

“C-Can you call Jay for me Rhodes” Will asked in a small voice, the few seconds he was actually outside in the cold Chicago weather seemed to have set a chill in his bones already. Connor nodded, grabbing the phone hanging out from Will’s jacket, ignoring the cracks on his screen and dialing the detective's number. 

Will could feel spots of darkness dancing around in his vision and squeezed his eyes shut to get them to stop but all that did was make it worse. He raised his hands to his eyes and leaned a little more into the warmth of Connor’s hold that was still around his shoulders. 

“Hey, Rhodes I don’t-”

He didn’t even have time to finish his sentence before his knees buckled and everything went blissfully dark. 

  
  


Jay looked up from the files he was reading at the buzzing of his phone. He glanced at the name-calling him and answered when he saw it was his brother. 

“Yea”

Jay expected to hear the familiar voice of his younger brother calling him to invite him out for dinner or for drinks at Molly. He was not expecting a much deeper voice to answer that was definitely not the voice of Will Halstead. 

“Hey Jay it’s Connor Rhodes from med, I work with Will”

“The cardiologist Wills’ always butting heads with, did something happen to Will? Why’re you calling me from his phone” Jay asked all at once, worry clearly evident as his voice grew a little louder drawing the attention of the other people at the precinct. 

Lindsey shot him a questioning look and Jay shrugged in response. 

“Will’s fine, the idiot overworked himself and I think he might have caught a cold or something and I can’t check him out cause he won’t let me. I was wondering if you could maybe come over and pick him- Will!” 

Jay’s heart raced. 

  
  


Jay got up from his seat, toppling the chair over as he looked at Voight in silent permission. At the responding nod, the detective grabbed his keys from his desk and ran out of the precinct to his car. 

“Connor, what the hell is going on!” Jay yelled into the phone, as he drove down to med going faster than what was recommended. 

He heard someone pick the phone up, “Just get here Halstead” and the line went dead. 

“Fuck” he yelled throwing his phone into the passenger seat next to him, Connor had assured him that Will was okay and he blindly held on to that and willed his mind to veer off the ‘what ifs’. 

The moment he stepped into the ED, he didn’t even need to ask where Will was. Maggie looked up from the front desk and pointed to the room. 

He walked passed but a hand caught his wrist and he looked up to see Maggie giving him a small smile, “He’ll be okay Jay, you know how you’re brother is” Maggie said. 

Jay let out a sigh feeling as if a heavyweight had been let off his shoulders at Maggie’s comment. 

“Thanks, Maggie. I’m gonna go check him out” 

She nodded and went right back into her work as if she hadn’t just told Jay he needed to hear the most. 

Jay walked over to trauma 2 and pulled the curtain away and stiffened at the sight. On the bed lay Will dozing off with an oxygen tube connected to his nose and an iv connected to his arm. His forehead had a shiny sheen to it and his ragged breaths could be heard from afar despite the cannula. What hit Jay like a bag of bricks was the way his younger brother was curled into himself, making himself seem smaller as shivers occasionally wracked through his being. 

Will’s larger-than-life persona nowhere to be seen and all that was left was a tired empty shell. 

Jay dropped into the chair next to bed, his eyes never leaving his brother’s face. He hadn’t seen Will for a few weeks now as Chicago winter’s brought higher crime rates and even more people coming into the hospital. Both brothers were hands deep in work and couldn't find time to meet up together as they usually would. 

With that in mind, Jay felt a stab of guilt go through his chest. He should’ve at least called to check up on Will, he could’ve spared a ten-minute drive down to Will’s place to see if his brother forgot to go grocery shopping that week, he could’ve spent one of his breaks coming down to med to see how Will was doing. 

He hadn’t and there was nothing he could do now except make sure this never happens again. 

Jay looks away from Will when he hears someone else entering the room, standing up and meeting blue eyes. 

“Hi there Jay, I’m Connor”

“What’s wrong with Will” 

Connor let out a quiet chuckle at the straightforwardness evident in both Halstead brothers. 

“He’s okay for the most part, nothing too serious. He collapsed onto me when I was calling you earlier and I was able to figure out that he was seriously dehydrated and malnourished and he had a bit of a high fever which we were able to bring down.” 

Jay listened to what Connor was saying but he felt as if it was going in through one ear and out the other. 

_‘Malnourished...dehydrated’_ He thought to himself. 

“Do you know the last time Will ate?” Connor asked innocently, his eyes looking away from the tablet with Will’s blood test results on them. 

Jay looked back at his younger brother’s face, the earlier stab of guilt becoming heavier. 

“I don't know, we’ve been busy for the past few weeks and haven’t been able to meet up” Jay responded. 

Connor nodded. 

“That’s fine. I saw him running around the ED all day today and never saw him sit down to eat either. I’ve got him hooked up to an iv to get some fluids in and oxygen for his cough. All he needs is rest which he has now since Goodwin gave him the next few days off” 

With no response to his statement, Connor looked at the older Halstead brother and took in the way he looked at his colleague. The sheer protectiveness he saw was a familiar look he’d seen in the younger brother’s eyes too whenever Jay came into hospital hurt from a case at the precinct. 

He knew vaguely from Will’s drunken mumbling whenever the two of them went drinking that Jay was all the family he had left and the same for the opposite so there was good reason for the way Jay looked at the sickly doctor on the bed. 

“Oh I was going to ask Jay, do you know why Will sold his car. He was going to take the L-station to get home but I didn’t want to risk him passing out anywhere else that isn't the hospital” 

Jay looked at Connor with surprise and confusion, “What? He sold his car. He never told me this” 

Connor’s forehead pinched together in worry and Jay had a mirrored look on his face but both people were broken out of their thoughts when the sound of a soft groan came from the bed. 

“Welcome back sleeping beauty,” Connor said in a teasing voice as Will rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. 

“J-Jay, what’re you doing here? Are you hurt” 

Jay scoffed and rolled his eyes yet couldn’t stop the soft smile from taking his face at the way that Will’s first thought was about his well-being. 

“Surprisingly it’s not me this time little bro” 

Will moved to sit up straight with the help of Connor who still had a smirk playing on his face. The younger looked around the room and to the oxygen tube and iv connected to him and groaned as a red flush, that wasn’t from his fever, took over his face. 

“I passed out, didn't I,” he asked, not bothering to look up from his embarrassment. 

“Like a damsel in distress,” he heard Connor reply and Jay laughed next to him. 

Will tried to roll his eyes but quickly stopped at the way they were still quite sensitive, 

“Yeah yeah laugh at the injured” 

Jay ran his hand through his brother's hair, pushing back the sweaty hair that was sticking to his forehead and chuckled at the way Will’s eyes had closed shut and he leaned into the comfort the same way he would when he was younger. 

_Some things never change huh little brother_

Connor looked at the pair and waited silently, not wanting to break the moment he knew Will probably needed. Will was an affectionate person, always putting a hand on his shoulder or giving him a passing hit on his back. He didn’t realize how hands-on the redhead really was until the way he saw the younger lean into his hold earlier and into Jay’s hand now, almost like a cat. 

“Can I leave now?” Will asked, breaking the silence of the room himself. 

Connor nodded handing Jay Will’s coat and bag, “Yup, I’ve already signed your discharge papers so you’re good to go. Just take it easy for the next few days and make sure to rest and drink your fluids” 

“I’m a doctor too you know” Will replied with no real heat behind his words as he got up from the bed. 

Connor raised a brow at the childish way Will argued back and nodded at Jay as he pat his back in a silent thanks. He opened his mouth to reply back but Jay had beat him to it. 

“Yea a doctor who can’t even take care of themselves” Jay scolded. 

Connor walked out of the room and grabbed his own coat and bag that was lying next to the doors of Will’s room. He didn’t need to deal with any more patients since he was just about to leave before Will passed out gracefully into his arms. He walked out of the ED and felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see Will’s smiling face, looking much better than before. 

“What’s up-” 

“Thanks, Connor, goodnight” 

“You too Halstead” 

He waited till Will ran up to join Jay who was waiting further ahead at his car before turning around to sit down in his. 

He drove back home with Will’s smile on his mind. 

**Author's Note:**

> i will add another chapter if anyone wants one (it's in consideration) so comments, feedback, and kudos will definitely help
> 
> thank you for reading :)


End file.
